I recently watched an amazing 29-minute, on-line documentary film about the last day of lead type at the New York Times. It’s called “Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu” and I recommend everyone watch it. The date is July 2, 1978 and, for around a hundred years prior to that date, this was how newspapers were put together– […]
Originally posted on Neighbors for More Neighbors. The news that Minneapolis had again passed 400,000 residents last summer is a reminder that we did it before. Buried in our history is a story of a post-war Minneapolis that at one time had more than 520,000 residents, and has not seen as many since. Part of the […]
September 7, 2015 34.5 Miles West End, Downtown, Dayton’s Bluff, Battle Creek, Highwood Hills A long ride to the eastern reaches of Saint Paul, which started with some quick stops, first on the West End. Today’s plan was to reach and explore Boys Totem Town, Ramsey County’s live-in program for boys 14 to 18 who […]
In 1893, Court Avenue in Bellefontaine, Ohio became the first American street paved with concrete. George Bartholemew is still celebrated for his “artificial stone” pavement. Bartholemew convinced the Bellefontaine City Council to try it around the Logan County Court House by posting a bond that guaranteed the pavement would last at least five years. The […]
25.6 miles (11.86 miles to MnHS; 13.74 miles back) Macalester-Groveland, Summit-University, Frogtown, North End, Payne-Phalen After months of conversation, coordination, and anticipation I was finally on the way to the Minnesota Historical Society’s Record Center on the North End. There I’d get a tour of the little-known building used to store many of Minnesota’s surprising […]
Hello! This week’s podcast is a conversation with James Eli Shiffer, a writer and editor at the Star Tribune, about his recent book the King of Skid Row: John Bacich and the Twilight Years of Old Minneapolis. The book is an in-depth account of Shiffer’s research into the old Gateway area of downtown Minneapolis, centered […]
F. Scott Fitzgerald lived briefly on Summit Avenue back in 1914 and 1915. Blogger and biker Wolfie Browender takes us inside the rowhouse today.
Via Nick Magrino on Twitter (I don’t know where he got it), here’s a cool map showing Native American trails and place names superimposed on the existing Minneapolis city boundaries. Indigenous People’s Day (which is the official status of today’s holiday in a few Minnesota cities) is the perfect time to stop and reflect on the […]
The current historic preservation issue in Minneapolis right now is not a campaign to save a building because its gingerbread ornamentation is too precious to lose. The slightly rusty and unornamented round steel sides of the Electric Steel Elevator complex in Prospect Park, part of a large complex of tall concrete cylindrical grain silos, may […]
This is Part 2 in an overview of overhead street lighting. Earlier we talked about NEMA lights, which are still commonly used in St. Paul. Today we cover some of the newer form factors. “Clamshell” Street Lights Because of their large circular filaments, incandescent street light bulbs needed to be mounted vertically. But no such […]